J.J. Watt meets quadriplegic fan after social media campaign

The Texans superstar recently met a young fan named Itzy Cagen, who has been a quadriplegic since being struck by a hit-and-run driver as a toddler. Cagen’s nurse, Eran Melnik, put the meeting in motion with a short post left on the defensive end’s Facebook fan page Jan. 30:

Mr. Watt. I am a nurse here in Houston and this is a picture of my patient. He is the longest surviving quadrapalegic on a ventilator in the world! I have been his nurse for four years now and I don’t think there is a bigger Texans fan out there. During the season, every morning I would wake him up and he would announce “J. J. SWATT!!!”. Just thought you would like to know that he is out there and would love to meet you if at all possible. We understand that you are busy, but who knows? Send me a message if anything comes up…. — with Itzy Cagen.

The post went viral with 1,485 likes and 274 shares. Houston-based comedy writer Jenny Johnson (a Twitter superstar) added fuel to the campaign by creating the hashtag #JJvisitItzy and spreading it to her more than 400,000 followers.

The movement reached Watt’s radar on May 13 as he left this comment on Melnik’s post: “We will make this happen.”

Watt and Cagen finally got together earlier this week. Cagen’s brother, Danny, tweeted this photo of the meeting to Watt, along with a big thank you.